Rob Portman: “They have two choices at the local level, and it is pretty obvious, if you think about it. One is to raise taxes at the…”

“They have two choices at the local level, and it is pretty obvious, if you think about it. One is to raise taxes at the local level, and that tends to be property taxes. Talk about regressive taxes. And the second is to cut services, the very services our constituents are saying they want more of, fire, police protection, personal security. That is what they do. These are the communities the gentleman is talking about that are going to have to go with one or two fewer police officers during a particular timeframe. That is not what we want to be doing to the people we represent and who are also represented by State and local officials who are having to live under these mandates increasingly.”